


Lost Things

by flickerthenflare



Category: Glee
Genre: Canon Compliant, Engagement, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2014-08-24
Packaged: 2018-02-14 11:09:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2189445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flickerthenflare/pseuds/flickerthenflare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt misplaces his engagement ring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost Things

Blaine comes home to a disaster. Furniture is pushed from the wall into the middle of the living area. Couch cushions are upended onto the floor. Every cabinet door is open. The pipes in the kitchen are unscrewed. His first thought is whether he missed a hurricane warning. The second is a list of people in close proximity to New York who could have a grudge against their nice things.

Blaine picks his way over scattered coffee table contents. He calls out to see who is home, and the specifically for Kurt when no one else responds.

Their bedroom is in the same upheaval as the rest of the apartment. Sheets are crumpled at the foot of their bed. And then there’s Kurt standing among the wreckage.

"Is Santana back?" Blaine asks Kurt’s turned back. All of Blaine’s personal items now in the loft would be tempting for her to rifle through.

Kurt holds one hand in the other like he’s wounded.

"Or are you the one responsible for all this plus busting open the pipes in the kitchen?" Blaine presses more gently, confusion evident in his voice. Kurt _likes_ order. Blaine has stepped up his tidiness game since moving in to appease Kurt. Kurt definitely wouldn’t tolerate this from him.

"With all the people here, who knows where anything stays. That’s the problem with twice as many people on a _slow_ day as this apartment can stand." Kurt huffs. His voice is thick. He doesn’t look at Blaine.

“Have you been crying?” Blaine asks despite the obviousness of Kurt’s red-rimmed eyes.Kurt doesn’t cry as easily as he used to, which has caused Blaine to forget that seeing Kurt upset always gives him a lump in his throat too.

With minimal resistance from Kurt, Blaine takes the hand Kurt clutches to check for blood. Instead he finds a line on Kurt’s ring finger that’s paler than the rest of him and no engagement ring.

Blaine has a sinking feeling that the missing jewelry is about to be flung in his face for some unknown offense. That he misinterpreted the possessions in disarray as _theirs_ instead of _his_. That Kurt’s shaking is really in rage. The threat of tears returns, this time for his own sake.

“Kurt…” he pleads, and then he doesn’t know what else to say. 

“I don’t remember when I had it last, it’s just _gone_.” Kurt’s voice warbles with tears. “Maybe I took it off at work to keep it out of the way. Or maybe it slipped off while I was asleep. I don’t remember. I don’t know how this happened. I didn’t mean to lose it.” Kurt sniffs again and wipes at his eyes with his free hand.

Blaine takes a shuddery sigh in relief. “You're not breaking up with me.”

Blaine doesn't care about the ring; he will once the relief passes. He knows distantly that it's disappointing - he carried that carefully selected weight around constantly to work up the courage to ask, culminating in a glamorous spectacle surrounded by their closest friends and archrivals – but it doesn't compare to a soul crushing rejection of the life he planned. A ring can be replaced. He isn't sure what he feels for Kurt ever could. 

“Not at all. Never.” Kurt sniffs again. How someone can sniff wetly and still look regal is beyond Blaine.

Blaine can’t handle seeing Kurt in distress. His desire to fix everything is in full power. He draws in the hand Kurt holds like it’s fragile so it’s closer to his heart. Blaine rubs his thumb over the lighter band of skin the ring left behind. "I didn't think it was possible for you to get paler. Does that mean everywhere else is your version of a tan?"

A laugh bubbles up through Kurt’s tears and he chokes through it. 

“I know how you get about these things, but it's not a metaphor. It's not a sign. It doesn't mean a thing.” Blaine wipes tears from Kurt’s eyes. “You’re not getting out of our engagement that easily.”

Kurt accepts the comfort with a stiff spine and his eyes still on the disaster around them.

“It’ll be okay. It’s probably in the bed. You move a lot in your sleep.”

“I looked there.”

“Is it in my ass?” Blaine’s lip twists at his own joke.

Kurt swats at him but warms Blaine with another unsteady smile. “You’re trying to distract me by making me look. How are you not freaking out? I have less expensive three-piece suits and it was beautiful and, crap, your proposal was amazing. I lost my _engagement ring_. Pre-packaged baked good last longer than that. It was supposed to last a lifetime and it didn't even make it to the wedding.”

"It’ll turn up when we clean all this up. And until then, if it’s going to drive you crazy, we'll pick out wedding bands early and you can wear that instead. Our whole engagement is ahead of schedule anyway, so getting wedding bands before the ceremony or even before setting the wedding date isn’t that big of a deal. And if the only way to make you agree again is with a song and dance, I will start rehearsals now. Just name the size of your desired spectacle.”

“I want the ring.” Kurt’s fingers worry over the skin no longer accustomed to being exposed.

Blaine starts mentally planning a serenade anyway.

The wedding bands they get are simpler, as is the ceremony preluding the momentBlaine slips Kurt’s onto his outstretched hand. Kurt spins the metal band and breathes a sigh of relief. It’s a relief for Blaine too, who has seen Kurt’s face fall too many times after reaching for something that is not there.

"We're going to have to pry that off your finger for the ceremony."

Kurt admires it in the light. "I'm going to put it on a leash and call it fashion. _No wandering off_ ," he scolds the ring.

Kurt doesn’t follow through on his leash threat. Instead he fusses with it as much as he did with the empty space, but he looks far more content. 

Blaine takes the bag with the other ring left in it and holds it protectively close. Traditionally, Blaine shouldn’t wear his until the ceremony, when he has the promises he wants to go with it. But now he has his wedding band in reach and he wants it. More specifically, he wants Kurt to put it on him.

Kurt looks away from his own ring long enough to direct the glint in his eye toward Blaine. “You definitely have to marry me now.”

“I was always going to.”

Kurt hauls Blaine closer. He tips his chin toward their bedroom, all coyness gone. “Tell me about it. And no skimping on the details.”

In the rush embark on honeymoon roleplay, in which they play themselves but slightly older and infinitely wealthier and well connected to celebrity guests, they forget about Blaine’s wedding band. No way is Blaine interrupting Kurt’s stuttering fantasy of a tryst behind a chocolate fountain after all their guests are gone to say they're only halfway through exchanging tokens. It doesn’t come up when a chocolate fountain on a banquet table turns into an aquarium’s underwater tunnel all around them either. Blaine finds the ring knocked aside after they’ve giggled their way through exacting details on future reception venue and playlists, gasped through orgasms, and Kurt falls asleep sideways across their bed with the edge of the blankets tangled at his feet but mostly in a heap on the still messy floor.

Blaine picks up the ring without disturbing Kurt’s sleep. He is tempted to find out what the weight would feel like on his own hand. He wonders what Kurt would promise. _Will_ promise.

Blaine glances back. Kurt sleeps with his left hand tightly holding a pillow and the ring shines in the fading light. Kurt lets Blaine be the one to cling when they’re together, but he reaches out whenever Blaine is gone.

No way is Blaine getting that ring tonight. He'll have to count on Kurt remembering the next morning.

Blaine tucks his away in a drawer. He tells himself he doesn’t need proof like Kurt does. He asked, so Kurt gets the ring and the promises for now. He'll find out Kurt’s promises if he's patient. 

He waits for Kurt to notice and ask. If the first happens, it doesn’t lead to the latter. Blaine doesn’t think about the other ring – the missing ring – for a long time. It doesn’t turn up when he moves out, although he also leaves half of his things behind with Kurt. And then there are half a dozen times Blaine thinks he’s going to lose Kurt, to ignorant bigots or Kurt’s mood or by wearing out his usefulness or being honest too late, and he’s so glad Kurt has never once taken the ring off.

He doesn’t think about the other ring until shortly after he moves back into the loft that’s now _theirs_. Kurt perches on top of Blaine’s desk, legs swinging, when Blaine comes home. It’s impossible to consider the workspace an eyesore when Kurt waits on it to greet him.

Kurt welcomes him back with open arms. Blaine happily closes the space between them with a kiss on the cheek and an embrace. 

"Look what I found when cleaning." Kurt hums in self-satisfaction as he holds up a velvet pouch.

The ring that tumbles out into Kurt’s hand is Blaine’s wedding band.

Blaine debates between playing along if Kurt thinks the ring is his somehow – despite how it looks nothing like Kurt’s lost engagement ring – or pointing out the mistake.

“Give me your hand.” Kurt holds out his own.

Blaine realizes he might be wrong and his breath catches.

Kurt pauses before he pushes it on. “Do you want to wear your ring? I’m assuming, because you asked me to marry you.”

Blaine nods. His whole body moves with it. He’s afraid to even blink at the risk of miss it.

Kurt looks solemn just long enough to slide the ring on, and then he's back to vibrating with excitement and self-satisfaction.

“Now it looks like we’re married,” Kurt observes coyly.

Kurt admires the ring on Blaine’s behalf, turning Blaine’s hand to catch the light.

“Gorgeous,” he praises again. “This really works for me. Turn your hand. I should not have let you go this long without it. It turns out I’m more possessive than I thought.”

“How possessive did you think you were?” Blaine laughs, giddy at this moment finally happening, and when he had no expectations for it. His breath catches at the sight of the ring on his finger. He understands why Kurt went a little crazy from having this and then feeling the absence when it was gone. 

“I’ve loved having my ring. It’s hands down my favorite accessory, even when considering my brooch collection. It’s _mine_. But this is mine too, isn’t it?” He taps at Blaine’s ring.

“We’re sharing, Kurt. They’re both ours, not both yours.” Possessive, indeed. Blaine recognizes the glint in Kurt’s eye.

“I’m very strongly resisting saying you’re mine. People belong to themselves, but this is mine, and I like seeing it on you. I like carrying something of yours on me. I couldn’t stand to be without it. You should have that feeling too.”

Blaine holds up his hand for his own turn to admire. He slides his thumb over the new metal weight. It twists under the pressure. “I do.”

“And now that we both have our wedding rings on...." Kurt hops down from the desk and uses his grip on Blaine’s hand to tug him forward. 

"More honeymoon roleplay?" Blaine guesses.

“ _Engaged_ roleplay.”

“How’s that different from reality? That’s just called sex, Kurt. Being who we are where we are now isn’t roleplay.”

Kurt shrugs and grins. “Feels like a fantasy.”

Kurt’s fingertips brush the ring on Blaine’s finger on the way to their room.


End file.
